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"For two years we heard Obama say over and over again that he had no intention of taking targeted action to help Black and brown communities that had been targeted for destruction by banks."

I must not be on the memo distribution list because I totally missed when this change occurred. Why do black leaders now refer to themselves as the "black and brown community"? I've seen it a number of times in the past year but don't recall ever seeing this inclusion used beyond then. Are they lumping in Latinos to build their numbers? Hmmm, probably not. Or perhaps Mulattos or other mixed heritages to secure an ownership of people such as Obama or Tiger Woods into their "black community"? More probable? Did Obama, himself, first use this to gain a broader acceptance? Are they, the black powers that be, now dividing the original "black community" into sects?

I am aware that there has always been somewhat of an underlying divide between fair, or light-skinned blacks and darker skinned blacks in the sense of one's perception that somebody, maybe, "just isn't black enough". This was a specific phrase I heard from a black colleague leading into the 2008 election, referring to skin color as well as "street cred" (for lack of a better term). So is this particular phrase due solely to the rise of Obama? I started to think this was just a new entry into the PC dictionary but then again, I thought "black" was deemed politically incorrect by the powers that be and was replaced by "African-American" some years back.

Seriously, somebody help me out here. I'm curious. I'm trying to "get it", I really am.